As Craig MacTavish emphasized in his opening presser as Edmonton Oilers’ GM, the search for grit with skill is on. With the options at his disposal limited to to internal reinforcements only, the first transactions of the (third) MacT Era were the simultaneous call-ups of Anton Lander and Teemu Hartikainen from Oklahoma City. Both will slot directly into the line-up tonight as the Oilers host the Minnesota Wild.

With the season itself essentially in garbage time in the aftermath of a soul-crushing five game regulation-losing streak, Ralph Krueger is changing up the mix, applying the MacT blender to the line combinations in a virtual stick-tap of the incoming boss. Here’s how the lines projected after this morning’s game-day skate:

Up front that’s eight of the top nine under the age of 24. The top six continues to feature the Oilers’ top draft choices from the last half-dozen entry drafts, but a flip-flop on the port side will change their look. After five games of one goal or fewer, something different would seem a prudent course of action.

The returning youngsters Lander and Hartikainen will pair up as they have done much of this season, this time with the veteran Horcoff on their flank. Particularly interesting that the captain will move over to the wing to accommodate Lander at centre, even as that deployment of this group of players forces Ryan Smyth back into the middle. Don’t be surprised to see the bottom six become fairly fluid as the game progresses.

The newcomer Smithson finds himself an odd man out after just four games in blue and orange, which comes across as a harsh judgement of Steve Tambellini’s deadline-day acquisition. On the other hand, another recent addition with an expiring contract, Fistric, draws back in while Whitney draws the short straw. The one constant in all of this is Peckham’s continued inactivity. Perhaps that will change once the team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

The Wild have developed some impressive young talent of their own, but jumped the gun on a rebuilding program by signing plum free agents Ryan Suter and Zach Parise this past summer, then trading a young prospect plus other assets at the deadline to bring in another prime-of-career player in Jason Pominville.

With a playoff spot virtually beyond reach and draft position very much at stake, Oilers fans once again find themselves in that familiar territory of not knowing whether to pull for a win or a loss. Instead of three keys for victory, I’ll offer three things to keep an eye on:

1. The battle between the young players of both teams. The Oilers-Wild rivalry has really shown signs of taking off recently, with fires being fuelled by a number of fierce battles between divisional rivals OKC Barons and Houston Aeros during the lockout. A focal point was this controversial hit by Taylor Hall on Jonas Brodin in Hall’s first AHL game:

Brodin is a splendid young defenceman who has since emerged as a legitimate Calder Trophy candidate, leading all NHL rookies in ice time. Other Wild youngsters to watch are forwards Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker, although another hotshot, Mikael Granlund, has recently been returned to Houston.

2. The rivalry between Taylor Hall and the entire Wild team. Hall has not won many fans in Minnesota (the most strident of whom refers to the Oilers’ young star as a “second line bust”), what with that hit on Brodin and this one on Cal Clutterbuck in Feburary:

Both Hall and Clutterbuck missed the rematch between the Oilers and Wild a few days later due to injury, but may be renewing acquaintances tonight. Of course, it’s always a good idea to keep one’s head up anytime Clutterbuck is around, as he has his own history of controversial hits.

3. The performance of Lander and Hartikainen. Krueger spoke highly of Lander’s intangibles in his pregame remarks, while addressing Hartikainen’s need to overcome inconsistency issues. Both players had some decent moments with the Oilers earlier this season, but circumstances (injury in Lander’s case, a numbers game for Hartikainen) saw both returned to the Barons in recent weeks. Lander in particular may have started to turn a corner; after scoring 10 points through his first 39 games as of the end of February, he has connected for another 10 in just 8 appearances since then, including 5-4-9, +7 in his last five. A short streak to be sure, but it’s nice to see any sign of offence from the youngster after a year and a half delivering precious little on that “score”; his play with the puck warrants a little extra attention down the stretch. Meanwhile Hartikainen appears set to finish yet another season, his third in a row, with a cup of coffee in the bigs. If he’s going to take that next step to full-time NHLer, “now” would be a real good time to make a statement.

The Wild are currently sixth in the West, but a precarious two points ahead of ninth-place Columbus. This is a huge game for the visitors, suggesting they’ll be focussing on hockey first and foremost. This one has a 19:30 MDT start time on Sportsnet West.

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